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Our discussion of The Princess Bride

We had, as usual, a rousing book discussion last night (which is, as usual, a lot of fun).   I will try to hit some of the highlights of what people had to say:

  • Theresa started us off by saying, "How superlative can we get about a book that's so superlative about itself?"   This led to a few more comments about the book.   Furry mentioned she found the book over the top, but fun.
  • However, not everyone was enamored with the book.   Three readers noted they couldn't finish it at all.   Ed said, "Having liked the movie was the only reason I suffered through the book."   He didn't care for the author and didn't like the constant interruptions in the story.    Klaupaucius said he was amused by the introductions, but found the book and movie difficult to separate.   He also commented on how the author was writing the introductions, saying, "And he was lying to me even in the introductions!"
  • Theresa noted that the book sets everything up seriously, but it doesn't take itself seriously.
  • Mike said that he knew ahead of time that this was a book within a book, and he got through the introductions, although he felt they rambled roo much.   But then, it got worse.  He didn't find it funny at all.  Which led me to say that I was sensing some outrage and resentment coming.  Mike had more to say about his frustrations with the book, one of which was that he felt the author belabored many points.   This then led Ed to comment that Mike's synopsis and observations were more entertaining than the book was.   Nathan said that he found it difficult to separate the book from the movie, and was definitely bored by all of the introductions (although he said, "I was not outraged.")
  • Menolly had an original copy of the book, from 1973, and said she was glad that her copy didn't have all of the notes and introductions.   She said that this is a very meta-aware book (and I would point everyone to the post here from 1/21/15) and that it's obvious that the book was written by someone who was creating a visual scene.   As she pointed out, it makes for a better movie if you only keep "the good parts."   She loves the movie, and enjoyed the book.
  • Derek pointed out that he preferred the movie for paring down the interruptions.   He had not read the book for a while, but remembered feeling a bit bored at times with the book.   He also commented that he felt that he needed a better grasp of medieval history, because it felt like Goldman was trying to satirize certain things in history.
  • Hola had an interesting experience with this book, as she has read it 21 times.   When she was younger, it was her favorite book, but she said she had not read it for 5 years and then picked it up again for this month's discussion.  She said that she now saw things in the book that she had completely missed before (or, as she put it, that she had glossed over in her youthful enthusiam).    She didn't like how the author talked about his son and wife, and had also forgotten the fact that Westley belts Buttercup in the face.   As Les put it, "The suck fairy got to the book.   Is that what you're trying to say?"   To read more about the Suck Fairy, please click this link.
  • About the introductions, Derek commented that it's interesting that we all seemed to feel compelled to read the introductions, even though many of us didn't care for them.  He said it would be a good exercise to re-read the book and completely self-edit, and not read the introductions, asides, etc.
  • One thing that we all agreed on was that it does come across that it feels like the author is skewering literary criticism here, and the mindset of reading something and then analyzing the heck out of it.    We also all agreed that the humor in this book would not appeal to everyone and like many books, it would either resonate with a reader, or would not (i.e. that you either really like it or you don't get it).  

All in all, as you can see, people had a lot to say.   I try to catch as many highlights as I can, but it's difficult to do justice to such a lively discussion.   As always, we welcome more discussion, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Comments

I was not "outraged", I merely spoke with great passion. :^)

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